Expect a rough Canadian Open

VANCOUVER • There are many weeks on the PGA Tour when players can hit the ball almost anywhere off the tee and still have a chance to recover and make par, or even birdie, from well off the fairway.

This isn’t one of those weeks.

The rough is most definitely up at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club, the site of this week’s RBC Canadian Open, and anyone who expects to contend will have to stay out of it.

“The biggest factor this week is going to be the rough,” 1997 British Open champion Justin Leonard said after his Tuesday practice round. “If you start missing fairways, this golf course gets really, really difficult. If you put the ball in play, you’ve got a chance to shoot a decent score, but it is going to be difficult.”

“It’s actually fantastically easy if you hit it right down the middle of the fairway and knock it on every green,” joked 2002 PGA Championship winner Rich Beem. “The greens are actually very manageable. Other than that, you’ve got to hit it straight. If not, you are going to be in for a long week. The rough is absolutely brutal.”

Surprisingly, there seems to be few complaints about Shaughnessy’s thick, four-inch rough.

“As many tournaments as we play where guys get away with hitting it all over the place, it is nice to play an event like this where you are forced to hit the ball in the fairway,” said veteran Bob Estes.

“Anything we can do to separate the field a little bit,” added Ben Crane. “We have seen a lot of scores that are super-bunched and this course is going to separate the field a little bit. The guys who are playing well this particular week are going to have a better chance and I think that is one of the things the rough will do.”

Crane was one of those who played well in 2005, the last time the Open was played at Shaughnessy. He tied for second with a score of 4-under par, just one back of winner Mark Calcavecchia.

“This is my favourite course that we play on the PGA Tour,” Crane said. “I grew up in Portland, Ore., so this is a very similar feel, with the routing, the views. “This is just a place I couldn’t wait to get back to. I just love this golf course and it’s in great shape.”

Shaughnessy, normally a par 73 for its members, will play as a par 70 this week. At 7,010 yards, it is relatively short by PGA Tour standards.

What makes Shaughnessy’s rough so tough and difficult to avoid is the fact that most fairways have been pinched to just 25 or 27 yards in width. And the greens here are some of the smallest PGA Tour players see.

Two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal, who is making his Canadian Open debut, got his first taste of Shaughnessy on Tuesday.

“I think the golf course is great,” said the 2012 European Ryder Cup captain. “It’s a great test. There are no weak holes. A lot of small greens and long shots into those greens, so it’s going to be a great test of golf.”

About the only player who seemed to take issue with the rough on Tuesday was two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen.

“Every year it’s like they think the players don’t believe the Canadian Open can grow grass,” Janzen said as he walked off the 18th green. “We know they can grow grass. They can grow grass as good as anybody can grow grass.”

Janzen, who is playing Shaughnessy for the first time, insisted he loves the course, but just doesn’t think the rough has to be four inches long.

“If it was me setting it up, and everyone has got a different opinion, the rough could be two or three inches and the course would still be very difficult,” he said. “But it’s the Canadian Open, they want it to mean something. They want the best player to win and whoever wins will have played some very good golf.”

The players may get something of a break with the weather this week. The forecast calls for showers through the weekend, which should soften up the greens. But the rough will become even tougher to hit out of if it’s soaking wet.

“You are going to get in some places here this week where all you can do is take a sand wedge or wedge and just get it back to the fairway,” Estes said.

Crane has a hunch scores will be “a little bit lower” than they were in 2005, but Janzen isn’t convinced. “I think under par would be a hell of a score,” he said. “I’ll take 1-under par right now and I think I’d have a good tournament.”